All The Presidents' Menus

by The AwlJune 29, 2012

by Sarah Marshall

While compiling this list I attempted as often as possible to learn not what the presidents ate at state functions and inaugural dinners but during their solitary breakfasts and family suppers — in other words, their comfort foods. Often this information came from contemporary accounts, and occasionally from the recipe cards of first ladies who left for posterity the dishes they’d cooked for their husbands, during the White House years as well as the early days of their marriages. Where this was difficult to track down (such as with the earlier presidents), I focused on menu items from the more personal of the large events (birthday and wedding dinners, for example) held in the presidents’ honor. A lot of this information came from the wonderful Food Timeline, which is maintained as a resource for young students, but can be just as fascinating to readers who don’t have to ask an adult before they try to make corn pone.

The evolution of American taste is on display here (Teddy Roosevelt’s hominy and green turtle soup traded in for Ford’s spaghetti and meatballs), as are glimpses into the very different personalities of the men that have held the office. A few things to look out for: Those who gorged when under pressure (Clinton, Taft) and those who all but starved in times of strain (Nixon, Kennedy, Lincoln); those who used their station to procure the finest cuisine available in their time (Jefferson, Arthur); and those who remained attached to the dishes with which they’d grown up (Truman, FDR, and Grant). And with the Fourth of July fast approaching, here’s where to find something intriguingly quaint to make in honor of our country’s strange and fascinating history. I’ve got my eye on Daniel Webster’s Punch.

John F. Kennedy: Broiled bacon, New England chowder, lamb chops, steak, fish on Fridays, mashed potatoes, baked beans, corn muffins, grilled cheese sandwiches, quiches, soufflés, and beer. “President Kennedy was a small eater; he often had to be reminded that it was dinner time… politics always took preference over food.” — The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

James Garfield: Squirrel soup, fresh bread, milk, tea mashed potatoes, parsnips, and Garfield pie (made with apples, not the cat). He willingly ate all foods save for oatmeal: “Told that Indian leader Sitting Bull was starving himself to protest his imprisonment, Garfield said, ‘Let him starve.’ Then he thought for a moment and said, ‘Oh no, send him my oatmeal.’” — James Cook, The Murder of James A. Garfield

Ulysses S. Grant: For breakfast, Spanish mackerel, steak, bacon, fried apples, flannel cakes, and strong coffee. For lunch and dinner, roast beef, wheat bread (which he liked to roll into balls and shoot at his children, pretending they were ammunition), hominy, and rice pudding, which he preferred to all other desserts.

Abraham Lincoln: Apples, coffee, bacon, milk, johnnycakes, honey, and chicken. “Mary Lincoln set a table at the White House, which included such food as aspic of tongue, pâté de foie Gras, turkey stuffed with truffles, and all sorts of wild game, such as venison, pheasant, or canvasback duck. But all too often the President merely picked at his food.” — Francois Rysavy, A Treasury of White House Cooking

Zachary Taylor: Deviled crabmeat, hominy, and Cajun food, which had developed a taste for while living in Louisiana. (Taylor was also the only president ever believed to have died in office because of a meal, in his case a large amount of iced milk and cherries on a hot day. He fell ill and died several days later.)

James K. Polk: Ham, corn pone, omelets. Of a trip to New Orleans, Polk wrote that “all the dishes were prepared in the French style of cooking, and to one unaccustomed to it it was difficult to tell of what they were composed…. I took a cup of coffee and something on my plate to save appearances, but was careful to eat none of it. As soon as an opportunity offered I asked a servant in a low tone if he could give me a piece of corn-bread & broiled ham.” — quoted in Mark Eaton Byrnes’ James K. Polk: A Biographical Companion

John Quincy Adams: Quincy Adams was often satisfied with a few crackers and a glass of water for dinner, but he was fond of fruit, enjoying apricots, plums, pears, and apples from the White House orchards. “It is a matter of some curiosity that Adams, with all his exposure to diverse European cuisines, showed so little interest in food. His culinary education had certainly been extensive…Yet throughout the Adams diary food references are sparse.” — Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks, The Presidents’ Cookbook

Thomas Jefferson: Waffles, macaroni, parmesan, figs, ragout, soufflés, and anchovies (all of which he had developed a taste for during his travels in Europe), pineapple, turnip greens, Virginia ham, crab, shad, oysters, partridge, venison, and Madeira wine.

If Sarah Marshall were President she would require that the White House be stocked at all times with at least three thousand dollars worth of runny cheese.Photo of Clinton courtesy of Penn State Archives, via.